The Natural Origin of Language

The Natural Origin of Language PDF Author: Robin Allott
Publisher: Xlibris Corporation
ISBN: 1469144719
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 400

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Book Description
The Natural Origin Of Language

The Natural Origin of Language

The Natural Origin of Language PDF Author: Robin Allott
Publisher: Xlibris Corporation
ISBN: 1469144719
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 400

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Book Description
The Natural Origin Of Language

Language

Language PDF Author: Otto Jespersen
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Language and languages
Languages : en
Pages : 462

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Book Description


The Study of Language

The Study of Language PDF Author: George Yule
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 250

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Book Description
This textbook provides a straightforward and comprehensive survey of the basic issues and topics involved in the study of language. Written in a clear and lively style, with frequent examples from English and other languages, this textbook is designed to introduce the non-specialist reader to issues that fascinate and sometimes frustrate linguists.

The Origin of Language

The Origin of Language PDF Author: Merritt Ruhlen
Publisher: Harvard Oriental Series - Opera Minora
ISBN: 9781463244958
Category : Foreign Language Study
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
What can the classification of languages tell us about human origins and human prehistory? This book presents a popular account of the origin of language. It is intended for an audience with no prior knowledge of comparative linguistics, genetics or archaeology. The present volume is a reprint of the 2009 second edition of the book, and includes the text of the first edition (1994) with minor modifications, as well as the scientific evidence for monogenesis, and a Postscript recounting developments in the field since the original publication of the book.

Darwinian Biolinguistics

Darwinian Biolinguistics PDF Author: Antonino Pennisi
Publisher: Springer
ISBN: 3319476882
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 297

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Book Description
This book proposes a radically evolutionary approach to biolinguistics that consists in considering human language as a form of species-specific intelligence entirely embodied in the corporeal structures of Homo sapiens. The book starts with a historical reconstruction of two opposing biolinguistic models: the Chomskian Biolinguistic Model (CBM) and the Darwinian Biolinguistic Model (DBM). The second part compares the two models and develops into a complete reconsideration of the traditional biolinguistic issues in an evolutionary perspective, highlighting their potential influence on the paradigm of biologically oriented cognitive science. The third part formulates the philosophical, evolutionary and experimental basis of an extended theory of linguistic performativity within a naturalistic perspective of pragmatics of verbal language. The book proposes a model in which the continuity between human and non-human primates is linked to the gradual development of the articulatory and neurocerebral structures, and to a kind of prelinguistic pragmatics which characterizes the common nature of social learning. In contrast, grammatical, semantic and pragmatic skills that mark the learning of historical-natural languages are seen as a rapid acceleration of cultural evolution. The book makes clear that this acceleration will not necessarily favour the long-term adaptations for Homo sapiens.

Why Only Us

Why Only Us PDF Author: Robert C. Berwick
Publisher: MIT Press
ISBN: 0262034247
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 229

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Book Description
Berwick and Chomsky draw on recent developments in linguistic theory to offer an evolutionary account of language and humans' remarkable, species-specific ability to acquire it. “A loosely connected collection of four essays that will fascinate anyone interested in the extraordinary phenomenon of language.” —New York Review of Books We are born crying, but those cries signal the first stirring of language. Within a year or so, infants master the sound system of their language; a few years after that, they are engaging in conversations. This remarkable, species-specific ability to acquire any human language—“the language faculty”—raises important biological questions about language, including how it has evolved. This book by two distinguished scholars—a computer scientist and a linguist—addresses the enduring question of the evolution of language. Robert Berwick and Noam Chomsky explain that until recently the evolutionary question could not be properly posed, because we did not have a clear idea of how to define “language” and therefore what it was that had evolved. But since the Minimalist Program, developed by Chomsky and others, we know the key ingredients of language and can put together an account of the evolution of human language and what distinguishes us from all other animals. Berwick and Chomsky discuss the biolinguistic perspective on language, which views language as a particular object of the biological world; the computational efficiency of language as a system of thought and understanding; the tension between Darwin's idea of gradual change and our contemporary understanding about evolutionary change and language; and evidence from nonhuman animals, in particular vocal learning in songbirds.

Why We Talk

Why We Talk PDF Author: Jean-Louis Dessalles
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0199276234
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 398

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Book Description
Constant exchange of information is integral to our societies. The author explores how this came into being. Presenting language evolution as a natural history of conversation, he sheds light on the emergence of communication in the hominine congregations, as well as on the human nature.

How Language Began

How Language Began PDF Author: Daniel L. Everett
Publisher: National Geographic Books
ISBN: 1631496263
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
A Buzzfeed Gift Guide Selection “Few books on the biological and cultural origin of humanity can be ranked as classics. I believe [this] will be one of them.” — Edward O. Wilson At the time of its publication, How Language Began received high acclaim for capturing the fascinating history of mankind’s most incredible creation. Deemed a “bombshell” linguist and “instant folk hero” by Tom Wolfe (Harper’s), Daniel L. Everett posits that the near- 7,000 languages that exist today are not only the product of one million years of evolution but also have allowed us to become Earth’s apex predator. Tracing 60,000 generations, Everett debunks long- held theories across a spectrum of disciplines to affi rm the idea that we are not born with an instinct for language. Woven with anecdotes of his nearly forty years of fi eldwork amongst Amazonian hunter- gatherers, this is a “completely enthralling” (Spectator) exploration of our humanity and a landmark study of what makes us human. “[An] ambitious text. . . . Everett’s amiable tone, and especially his captivating anecdotes . . . , will help the neophyte along.”— New York Times Book Review

The Origins of Life

The Origins of Life PDF Author: John Maynard Smith
Publisher: OUP Oxford
ISBN: 0191647322
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 276

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Book Description
In this fascinating book, John Maynard Smith and Eors Szathmary present an original picture of evolution. They propose that during evolution there have been a number of major transitions in the way in which information is passed between generations. These transitions include the appearance of the first replicating molecules, the emergence of co-operative animal societies, and the unique language ability of humans. Containing many new ideas, this book is contemporary biology on the grandest scale, from the birth of life to the origin of language.

The Evolution of Language

The Evolution of Language PDF Author: W. Tecumseh Fitch
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 052185993X
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 625

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Book Description
This book brings together the most important insights from the vast amount of literature on the origin of language.